Abstract

The native grapes of the Americas have provided valuable germplasm for improvement and development of cultivated commercial grape genotypes (for fresh fruit, wine, and processing, and rootstocks) all over the United States and Canada, where Vitis vinifera, or "old world grape," cannot grow. Cultivated varieties developed based on Vitis aestivalis are the only American native grapes with remarkable color stability of the juice and wine, with qualities for wine longevity, and very pleasant "mouth feel" that makes them comparable with the so-called "noble grape wine varieties" of the European grape V. vinifera. Vitis aestivalis Michaux is found in the eastern and central United States, from New England to Florida and from Wisconsin to Texas. The close proximity of related species and many variants to V. aestivalis has created confusion among taxonomists trying to classify grape species. Lately, DNA fingerprinting methods are broadly used for identification of various genotypes across the organism's population. We are aiming to define the phylogenetic relations between the grape species and subspecies listed under Aestivales Planchon group via data mining in the existing North American grape germplasm collections, and specifically expressed in the members of the group DNA microsatellites. DNA isolation and quantification of nine Aestivales accessions evenly distributed through the area of natural habitat is completed. Microsatellite-specific PCR amplification products were obtained in three of the loci: ZagSSR7, VrZagSSR64, and VrZagSSR112. The amplicons were subjected to fragment analysis with software STATISTICA version 4.5. Further analyses for the other seven pairs of SSR markers originated from V. ripari and previously successfully used for grape species identification are under way.